Mother’s Day – some ups and downs

The ups being that my lovely husband let me sleep in til 10am!!! And gave me very nice gifts of Series 1 of Flight of the Conchords and a packet of Gogos, both of which were very much appreciated.

The downs were that Miss Small wasn’t very well, and hadn’t been for a few days. She spent much of the night crying or watching peppa pig and sometimes both activities at once. So we thought we’d better take her up to the children’s hospital, just to be sure. THREE HOURS LATER… a very nice doctor said (in doctor-language) that it was probably just a bug and should go away. Ah, okay then. The day picked up briefly while we went for lunch, but reached new depths as I was taking Miss Small up to bed, she managed to completely drench me in sick. That is love in action, really, when you can stand and let someone regurgitate about a pint of milk down your chest without blinking.

Folksy Friday – have a bun!

Folksy is now running at the speed of light, thanks to some technical jiggery-pokery behind the scenes, which is a huge relief. After a positive article in the Guardian a few weeks ago plus other good press, the site was struggling to manage the increased numbers. But no more! So in honour of our new superfast connection, here we go, with my first folksy five…

This cupcake bunting by Nickynackynoo would be perfect in a little girl’s room, or for a proper afternoon tea.

How cute is this donut and iced bun bracelet by Squidgy Muldoon?  And what a great name, too!

I love these cupcake buttons from Jellybelly*Jellybrain, but have the sneaky sensation I’d deem them too good to use, and keep them in the button box for playing with instead!

I don’t have a dog, but if I did, she’d be wearing this retro-fab collar by veryvintage!

Stationery and cake?  Wow!  Two of my favourite things come together in this lovely printed notebook from Asking for Trouble.

Friday baking

You would not believe how good my kitchen smells right now…

(notice the tight framing, due to the rest of the room looking like the wreck of the hesperus)

I am so proud of being able to do this. For a long time, baking bread was an ambition of mine. As a teenager, of course, I tried and, of course again, failed miserably. The resulting brick was named ‘solidex’ by my scientist father and mocked mercilessly by my sisters. It smelled fantastic though, and if you ate it within say, ten minutes of its emerging from the oven with lashings of butter, it was passable. But only just.

Which makes my eventual success so much sweeter. It was Rose Levy Beranbaum  who finally got me comfortable with yeast and whose book was the only one I ever considered stealing from the local library. But I didn’t – an ethical decision I am still slightly troubled by. I mean, really, how many people in the rural scottish town I grew up in had the same epiphany, the same connection with Rose?   You always remember your first…